Category Archive

Open-source intelligence (OSINT) isn’t new. Professionals in the intelligence industry have been leveraging open-source data such as search engines, social media, and other public platforms for years. However, the technology that OSINT tools are using to gather data is changing, and quickly. The newest technology? Geofencing. Why your OSINT tool should have geofencing capabilities You’re probably already using social media … Read More

Can you remember a time when people used to hold up lighters at concerts? Now all you see is cell phones in the air to catch the big moment and live stream to social media. Others spend half the time tweeting about the #keynote speaker they’re in the presence of, rather than watching what’s happening in front of them. It’s … Read More

We’re all on social media in our personal lives. Whether it’s tagging you and your friends on a big hiking trip, using a geo sticker at a concert in the city, or updating your Facebook with every new location on your summer vacation, geolocation has become a huge part of social media. A geotagged photo or post is a social … Read More

We expect hospitality businesses to know about, and react to the special milestones in our lives. Whether it’s a birthday, anniversary, or retirement, the ideal guest experience is highly personal. Using the right tools, here’s how to improve guest experience in the competitive hospitality market. As consumer expectations shift towards this level of service, so do hotel accommodations. The hotel … Read More

Mapping Wildfires – British Columbia 2017 I’ve run head first into the internet connectivity divide; my parents, located north of Williams Lake near Soda Creek have been put under Evacuation Order – they do not have internet. I, surrounded by connectivity, have discovered an evacuation order for their area at 8:00PM – it had been posted online at 2:09PM. My … Read More

What is Fake News? On June 1st, 1897, The New York Herald published an article claiming that famous American writer Mark Twain was “grievously ill and possibly dying.” The following day, Twain was quoted by The New York Journal as saying, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” In those days, such rumours would have been called ‘untruths,’ ‘false … Read More

A Real-Time Social Media Map When disasters occur, we all want to help. A real-time social media map is one of the fastest ways to get emergency responders where they need to be. Since Echosec is a leader in location-based social media search and discovery, we thought we would share some actions our clients take in a disaster response scenario … Read More

Human emotion is complex. It’s one of the seemingly few things that computers haven’t quite figured out how to navigate yet. So when we see a social media platform offering sentiment analysis as a feature, what does that really mean? Here at Echosec, we help organizations find and filter billions of social media posts every day. When we geofence a location … Read More

Reddit is one of the newest data sources found on Echosec. The brainchild of a couple of college roommates, Reddit is the 7th most visited website in the US and 22nd in the world. A whopping 500 million people log in each month. Users of the site (known as “Redditors”) appreciate the democratic nature of the site. Instead of organizing … Read More

What is Flickr? Yahoo’s photo curating platform, after over a decade in operation, remains to be a favourite in the photographic community. (DMR Stats says) Flickr’s current user base sits around 122 million people in 63 countries. What is Flickr Good At? Enthusiasts of the popular site appreciate the ability to retain the original resolution of their photos, in contrast … Read More